Effectiveness of a Single High Dose of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection Over Corticosteroid and Hyaluronic Acid Injections on Osteoarthritis, Chronic Tendinitis and Tennis Elbow Treatment

Background: Corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid (HA) injections and Anti-inflammatory agents are considered as non-invasive treatments for knee osteoarthritis (OA), Chronic Tendinitis (CT) and Tennis elbow (TE) that are supposed to provide symptomatic relief and to help surgical delay intervention. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a biological component shown to be beneficial for different orthopedic dysfunctionalities treatment. The presence of GFs in PRPs such as transforming growth factor-β, insulin-like growth factor 1co-stimulate the mesenchymal stem cells and fibroblasts secretions and promotes the fibrin matrix formation which effectively drive the healing process, induces regenerative response and lead to the damage structure repair in orthopedics trauma. Methods: Three groups of a total of 30 patients presenting OA, CT and TE diagnosis, non-responding to corticosteroid, HA and non-steroid anti-inflammatory treatments were randomized to undergo one intra-articular injections of single high dose of PRP. The efficacy of Intra-articular PRP Injections was evaluated before the injection and one month after. The efficiency assessment score was based on [1] Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, [2] Physical Function Short Form (KOOS-PS) Arabic (KSA) version LK 1.0, [3] HOOS-Physical Function Short form (HOOS-PS), and [4] Macdermid patient-rated Tennis Elbow. Results: A significant reduction of pain and a marked improvement in movements was observed in the 3 patient’s groups, PRP-injected patients showed significantly higher values compared with baseline: (p < 0.005 vs baseline), improve functional status and reduce clearly the articular dysfunctions over the time. In our study, single High dose injection of PRP provided an overall superior clinical improvement compared with HA and corticosteroid treatments over the time and the different follow-up checkpoints of the study.